Rumour Controlled: Phosphor Games Are Reviving Hero; Now Awakened

You may remember that leaked videos and concept art pointed to ex-Midway employees Phosphor Games taking over the canned Hero project. Though the third-person action seemed to be a generic mix of inFamous and Prototype, it also looked extremely solid even in the early build. After reaching out to Phosphor for comment (as promised), CEO Justin Corcoran has confirmed to us that the project is indeed the spiritual successor to Hero that encompasses many of its gameplay elements. The new project is now appropriately called Awakened.

For more information, we were pointed to a new exclusive interview with Gamasutra (shame I didn't quite manage to net that one), which confirms the name of the project as well as the fact that Phosphor were unable to take any of the assets with them. While Awakened will attempt to provide a spiritual successor to Hero, Phosphor games were forced to start from scratch in terms of code base and storyline.

Awakened will focus around the concept of creating your own unique Hero, and we're looking forward to seeing what innovations Phosphor Games can bring to the 'sandbox plus' genre. Naturally we'll keep digging and keep you posted.

Portal 2 PS3 Will Be Updated Faster Than 360 Version

Valve's Chet Faliszek has explained to CVG that the console versions of Portal 2 will be absolutely identical... with one important caveat. Microsoft forces developers to jump through myriad hoops in order to publish updates and DLC- and no one from the smallest Indie studios to the largest corporations are exempt. Whilst content will remain the same between the two versions, the PS3 edition will be updated far more frequently and comprehensively than its Xbox 360 counterpart.

If you bought the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions and put them side by side you can see they’re identical games. The actual content is the same too across all platforms.

With the PS3 we can update more often, we don’t have to have someone else gate that ability. We can play between the PC and PS3 players because we can update more frequently. So from that end as gamers we always look at what we would want and how we wanted it and on the PS3 we’ve been able to deliver a lot of the things we would like to see.

Don't shoot the messenger. Maybe it's time for Microsoft to review its update policy? [CVG]

Friend Codes Return To 3DS

Most of us fervently hoped and prayed that Nintendo's highly anticipated 3DS handheld would ditch the friend code system. Having to use unique numbers to identify and vet friends was designed to make online multiplayer more secure for young children, but it ultimately ended up making the whole process a massive hassle for everyone.

Unfortunately Nintendo has confirmed that 12-digit friend codes will be making an unwelcome return, but at least they'll now be universal rather than game-specific. A friend hub, memo and messaging system will also allow us to keep tabs on and communicate with our online chums. It's great to see that Nintendo are finally getting involved with the current generation of multiplayer mod cons. [Nintendo 3DS Blog]